A Time and A Place for Wild and Crazy PR

A Time and A Place for Wild and Crazy PR

Everyone knows PR is all about awareness. Publicity stunts and in-your-face strategies are effective for the right time, place and client and creating news is often essential to spreading an important message. So if all of that is indeed true, you might ask, who exactly are they right for?

If a client comes to CMA and asks us to stage a publicity stunt, our strategists analyze the situation first to see if this sometimes costly awareness tool is worth risking the company or organization’s credibility. After all, the best publicity stunts are those that have a clever, clear message and a detailed plan to avoid backfire.

In fact, one of my favorite recent publicity stunts was the event to cap off Snickers’ “Bar Hunger” campaign, mostly because of its simplicity in expressing its message. Movie star David Arquette lived two days in a Plexiglas box atop the Madison Square Garden marquee to raise awareness for hunger in America. By literally putting himself on display, Arquette and the publicity team provided the media with a unique story that included a good message—without embarrassing the organization or the celebrity.

But the truth is, effective PR is not really about wild and crazy ideas. It’s about giving the media something to work with that might be valuable to their community. In the case of the Snickers campaign, the extremity of the stunt matched the urgency of the message. Everyone walking by could be a potential donor so widespread voyeurism and shock-value proved effective.

However, more specific audiences need more than a stunt to sell them on your products and services, especially if you sell business-to-business. Perhaps holding an event at a well-attended trade show is the key to launching a new product to your target audience. Hire a respected speaker that is appropriate for your industry and provide educational value for your audience. Often this type of awareness helps a company maintain and build credibility without being viewed as a rampant risk-taker and the media takes notice just the same.

Kaitlin Friedmann
Public Relations Manager
kfriedmann@cmasolutions.com